Comments on: You have to respect Mark Ritchie

By: Anne Nolan

Anne Nolan — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 01:46:32 +0000

My favorite Mark Ritchie story:

I walked a parade with Mark in St. Cloud the summer of 2006, when he ran for SoS. After we reached the end of the parade, we chatted as we walked back to our cars. We were talking about the farm crisis years in Iowa, and he happened to mention knowing the late Bishop Dingmann. I told him that my mom had once worked as a secretary to Bishop Dingmann and admired him very much. Mark enthusiastically told me about a biography of Dingmann and asked if my mother had read it. I replied that I had never heard her mention it, so I didn’t think she knew about it. The very next morning there was an e-mail in my inbox from Mark with a link to the Amazon page of the book. I forwarded it to my mother, who bought the book, read it, and loved it.

There was Mark conducting a statewide campaign, working his heart out, probably not getting very much sleep, and he took the time to send a link for an 81-year-old lady who wasn’t even a Minnesota voter, just because he knew she would enjoy it.

We’re blessed to have him.

By: lojasmo

lojasmo — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:00:10 +0000

For some, higher office has little allure. I suspect that Mark is one of those people, regrettably.

By: Kathy

Kathy — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:37:26 +0000

To hear the folks at the Conservative blogs call Mark Ritchie a “partisan hack” shows emmense ignorance on their parts.

Mark has handled this with the utmost transparency and fairness.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:31:39 +0000

Mark? Mark’s not exactly young. 57. Although I guess that’s young enough to potentially run for governor down the line. I sure hope so. Mark’s one of my favorite politicians in the entire country.

By: amuseinc

amuseinc — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 15:03:32 +0000

He is a young man and has a long career in front of him. Should he keep his good government mindset going, he will be Governor some day. I was impressed with how he handled the BS and personal attacks aspects of the recount with great calmness. I think even Republicans have to see him as a good guy.

By: DantheMan

DantheMan — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:56:19 +0000

Impressive move by Ritchie. Many politicians wouldn’t have been able to resist the allure of higher office when their name recognition is this strong.

By: lojasmo

lojasmo — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 14:55:28 +0000

We are very fortunate to have Mark as our SoS. Though he is my personal favorite potential candidatein the gubernatorial field, I am very happy to have him in the Secretary’s office.